The Teacher

The following is an excerpt from Who Is This Jesus? By Daniel Owens

The Teacher
There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight weren’t in on it.”

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to-to God’s kingdom.” (John 3:1-3)

Many have called Jesus the greatest teacher ever to live. He is our example of how to teach. He could hold the attention of his listeners, no matter their age. The parables he taught have been told and retold for generations.

In John 3, Nicodemus approaches Jesus, the great teacher. Sometimes we gloss over this story, but a closer look reveals why this was such an amazing encounter. We see in this story the qualities that made Jesus such a wonderful teacher.

Jesus Was Approachable
Nicodemus was from the upper class, a leader, and a member of the ruling council. He was so prominent that, in verse 10, Jesus refers to him as “Israel’s teacher.” As a Pharisee, however, he led a legalistic lifestyle, holding on to the Old Testament law and man-made traditions that had developed among the Jews over the years. Nicodemus was the one with all the answers to people’s questions.

We all know people like Nicodemus, people who believe their way of thinking is the only way to think. There are even ministers like that. In several of his books, Philip Yancey exposes the damage that dogmatic, legalistic pastors have done. They wield Scripture as a tool of manipulation, and they use guilt as a weapon.

Nicodemus might have been very closed minded when it came to new ideas, but something about Jesus gnawed at him. So he came to see Jesus at night. Many theologians have supposed that Nicodemus was afraid of what his peers might think of him going to see Jesus, prompting him to wait for the cover of night. It could also be, however, that he was smart and knew that people surrounded Jesus during the day. Perhaps that’s why he sought him in the evening, when he could easily have a private audience with him.

An even more thought-provoking possibility is that he came at night because he was a teacher of the law, and many teachers at that time did a great deal of their studying at night. Today we still have college students who stay up well into the night to churn out a paper or study for a test!

The main point, however, is that Nicodemus went to see Jesus. He must have heard much about this new teacher. He believed Jesus would receive him and listen to him.

Charles Templeton, who traveled extensively with Billy Graham back in the 1950s, eventually drifted away from the faith. He even wrote a book called Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith. Shortly before his death, he granted an interview to Lee Strobel, in which he explained his reasons for walking away from the Lord.

In his book The Case for Faith, Strobel quotes Templeton:

[I saw] a picture of a black woman in Northern Africa . . . . They were experiencing a devastating drought. And she was holding her dead baby in her lorn expression. I looked at it and I thought, “Is it possible to believe that there is a loving or caring Creator when all this woman needed was rain?”

Then I began to think further about the world being the creation of God. I started considering the plagues that sweep across parts of the planet and indiscriminately kill-more often than not, painfully-all kinds of people, the ordinary, the decent, and the rotten. And it just became crystal clear to me that this is not possible for an intelligent person to believe that there is a deity who loves.

Charles Templeton could not reconcile this problem in his mind. He could not understand why God would let bad things happen to good people. It kept him from approaching Jesus, in whom he had previously believed.

What keeps us from approaching Christ? Doubts? Time? Pride? Self-love? Shame? We don’t have to come by night. We can come before God at any time to pour out our hearts. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Approach Christ this week and pour out your heart to him.

God bless,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries